


reflection

by inkandparchment



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24753853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkandparchment/pseuds/inkandparchment
Summary: a marinette-centric fic where she reflects on her relationships with luka and adrien(ps: lukanette is endgame - don't like, don't read)
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	1. reflection

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I'm not your forever.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21651820) by [invisible_nerd_girl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisible_nerd_girl/pseuds/invisible_nerd_girl). 



> disclaimer: all my gratitude to thomas astruc's miraculous ladybug for inspiring this fic - anything you recognize (characters, setting, dialogue, etc) belongs to him! i was also inspired by invisible_nerd_girl's fic "i'm not your forever." however, i ask that if you take inspiration from anything original in my fics, please don't copy or plagiarize them here or on other sites without my explicit knowledge and permission

at twenty four, marinette took some time to think back on the time of her teenage years. she was the head designer at emilie, the fashion house previously belonging to gabriel agreste. her friend adrien had nearly decided to let the company be run to the ground after the reveal and defeat of hawkmoth, but she'd offered to help him with a rebrand of the company that would instead honor his mother. he'd immediately accepted, on the condition that he would find someone else to be her model. (neither of them liked publicity much, having gotten more than enough of it in the weeks following their defeat of hawkmoth.)

at seventeen, marinette thought she was still destined to have a future with her sweet classmate, adrien agreste. she'd hadn't been counting on luka couffaine. being with adrien was like being flooded with emotion, stuck in a roaring ocean. she felt sometimes like she was drowning in her love for him, so sure that the passion she felt around him (for him) was a sign that they would have the strongest bond. 

on the other hand, luka… didn't make her feel that way. instead, he was like calm waters that gently lapped at your feet while taking a moonlit stroll on the beach. he was like coming home. 

sure, she would occasionally get flustered around the boy, but that was only when he'd actively flirted with her or said ridiculously romantic things like "you've been the song in my head since the first time we met," to her. most of the time, though, her heartbeat actually slowed when she got near him, as she relaxed in the tranquility provided by his presence. 

she thinks that's why it took her so long to notice him.

with adrien, she could spend hours memorizing his schedule or fantasizing about a life with him.

with luka, she did not do the same. perhaps, it was because she knew that deep down, there was nothing necessary about fantasizing about a life with him when they were already living it together. perhaps, she'd fantasized about a future with adrien, because she knew that in the end, it was never meant to be, and we always want what we can't have, don't we?

she always hated being less than her best around adrien when she was crushing on him, back in those days. she often hoped that she could do things that would impress him, and just maybe, she hoped that those things would cause him to fall for her. she was so stupid for not realizing that him falling love with a version of her that was "better" than the person she felt like she was naturally, wouldn't be a real love. 

she'd never felt like she had to hide, when she was around luka. in fact, she knew that even in moments where she was at her most vulnerable, where she was least proud of herself, he loved her. he noticed her. she didn't have to do anything grand to get his attention, because he was already attracted to who she was, and he made her feel extraordinary, even on her most ordinary days.

now, marinette was twenty four. 

after hawkmoth was defeated, marinette held a gathering with the other miraculous holders and allowed them to reveal themselves if they wished. she thought that finding out that adrien had been chat noir this whole time would have inevitably led to them dating. however, after trying to make a relationship work for a month, they realized that they were better as friends. problems with communication and not knowing what version of the other they would come home to at night quickly took a toll on them. in other words, neither could reconcile the others' personalities with who they wanted them to be. they wanted the other to be the person they'd dreamed of being with, the person on whom they'd projected their fantasies, rather than just the people that they were.

a failed relationship with the one person marinette had naively believed to be a constant in her life shook her up. even though so much stress had been lifted from her shoulders after the defeat of hawkmoth, she was still just nineteen after her breakup with adrien, and she felt as though she had managed to lose both her best friend (chat noir?) and her boyfriend (adrien?) all in one go.

she felt as though she only had one person left to turn to. 

ironic, huh, that viperion's power was that of the "second chance."

because that was what it felt like, when she spent time with him.

luka was her second chance at love, and she was going to take it.

they took things slow. 

in contrast to her love with adrien, akin to a whirlwind, cyclone, or tornado, where she was swept away, and lost her sense of self, individuality, all in attempt to keep clinging to her first love, luka nothing more than a breath of fresh air. not that he wasn't important to her, no, not at all. in fact, he was even more so, because being with him was as simple and easy as breathing. around him, she could be normal. she could be herself, because he accepted her, and loved her, as she was.

she had so many unattainable expectations for adrien, and none for luka. perhaps it was because subconsciously, marinette had realized that luka already exceeded all of her expectations in terms of who she needed him to be. her best friend, her lover, her muse…

patrols with chat noir had been frustrating for her. as much as she loved the silly cat, he couldn't take a hint. even though she wouldn't have rejected him if she'd known he was adrien, he pushed her boundaries. while she couldn't blame him for wanting affection with the lack of it that he'd had at home, she couldn't help but feel disrespected to some degree when he continued to flirt with her, despite her asking him to tone things down. 

viperion had always been good at reading her, whether it was knowing when to crack a joke, share a smile, or just back off and keep some distance. she also knew that he'd made a standing offer to always be a shoulder to cry on, asking for nothing more or less, whenever she'd come to him, overwhelmed by the burden of protecting paris. while she'd been lucky enough to never need to ask him for space, she knew that if she did, he would immediately step away, no questions asked. (he would probably actually apologize, even if whatever was bothering her wasn't his fault, to be honest.)

  
  


at twenty four, marinette dupain-cheng was not engaged or married to adrien agreste. she was not engaged or married to luka couffaine, either. but he was her boyfriend, and she finally understood what master fu meant when he said that sometimes, "life doesn't give you what you hoped for, [but] the true gift is life itself." and she was grateful.


	2. crackfic outtake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this completely a crackfic i wrote this at two am also it's unbeta'd please feel free to not read this

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by the fic "my personal thermos" by white rose blossom on fictionpress

one of the reasons marinette couldn't stand being in a romantic relationship with adrien agreste was because she simply could not handle him while on her period. yes, she knew he grew up without a mother, but did he have to be completely and utterly ignorant of what menstruation was? i mean, where was he during biology class? (oh right, at an akuma attack, just like her. but still, why the ever loving fuck, did no one think to educate him or catch him up on something like this?)

luka, bless him, was well adjusted at handling women on their monthly cycle, having grown up around two females. therefore, he had no qualms picking up pads and tampons for marinette while she was on her period. in fact, he'd even swing by the dupain-cheng bakery to bring her comfort food from tom and sabine without being asked. lucky mari. in addition, because of juleka, he had long gotten used to carrying some feminine products with him, in case juleka unexpectedly started her period during the school day. (while she was often prepared, he knew that if and when she did forget, she would be to shy and ashamed to ask anyone else if they had, ahem, supplies. so he let her know that like in all other things, she could come to her older brother for help.) 

basically i love luka being the sweetest older brother to jules and feel like he would be the kind of guy to be such a feminist icon that he would have no problems with hanging onto some pads/tampons for the girls in his life and would totally buy them for his girlfriend or sister without feeling like his masculinity was being threatened. i also feel like nathalie and gabriel would have been too worried about akumatizing all of paris to give him The Talk, and so adrien would be ridiculously awkward and confused and unable to handle mar or her crying while on her period, since she was usually the strong one between the two. not to mention, her being in pain and him wanting to do something about it would probably lead to an argument about how she's fine and can handle it on her own, which would probably lead to her getting angry due to the thought that he thinks she's incapable of taking herself and… well, we're all familiar with what cheerful, sweet marinette is like normally, so i think that her getting angry and upset would scare agreste, and possibly shake him because he would remember about how so many akumas had been caused because of people's negative emotions.


End file.
